244 ENEMIES OF BEES. 



have noticed it on tlie wing long before sunset, and on such 

 days, the female, when oppressed with the urgent necessity 

 of laying her eggs, may be seen endeavoring to gain admis- 

 sion to the hives. She is much larger than the male, and 

 " her color is deeper, and more inclining to a darkish gray, 

 with small spots or blackish streaks on the interior edge of her 

 upper wings." The color of the male inclines more to a light 

 gray ; they are so unlike that they might easily be mistaken 

 for different species of moths. These insects are surpris- 

 ingly agile, both on foot and on the wing ; the motions of 

 a bee being very slow, in comparison. " They are," says 

 Reaumur, " the most nimble-footed creatures that I know." 



" If the approach to the Apiary* be observed of a moon- 

 light evening, the moths will be found flying or running 

 round the hives, watching an opportunity to enter, whilst the 

 bees that have to guard the entrances against their intrusion, 

 will be seen acting as vigilant sentinels, performing continual 

 rounds near this important post, extending their antennae to 

 the utmost, and moving them to the right and left alternately. 

 Woe to the unfortunate moth that comes within their reach I" 

 "It is curious," says Huber, " to observe how artfully the 

 moth knows how to profit, to the disadvantage of the bees, 

 ■which require much light for seeing objects ; and the precau- 

 tions taken by the latter in reconnoitering and expelling so 

 dangerous an enemy." 



The entrance of the moth into a hive, and the ravages 

 committed by her progeny, forcibly illustrate the sad havoc 

 which vice often makes of character and happiness, when it 

 finds admission into the human heart, and is allowed to prey 

 unchecked, upon all its most precious treasures ; and he who 

 would not be so enslaved by its power, as to lose all spiritual 



*Bevan . 



